This is a Project of the Ryde District Historical Society to identify & collect data for all World War I soldiers and nurses from the Ryde district of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
If you have any information that could help or would like to help our research project -- please contact the Ryde Goes to War Project Coordinator - Kim Phillips : rydegoestowar@gmail.com

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Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Our Anzac family – the Nelson Brothers of Ryde, NSW and Wellington, NZ

Their story as researched by the RGTW team

In the
previous blog post we have heard the wonderful story of the return of Henry
Oscar Nelson’s Dead Man’s penny to members of his family. In preparation for that event we did some
research on who the Nelson family were, and where they came from and discovered
them to be an ANZAC family!

Two of the
six Nelsons listed on our Ryde goes to war database are brothers, Frederick Andrew Nelson (Service No. 727)
& Henry Oscar Nelson (Service No. 728 ), both were born in Wellington,
New Zealand.

Martin
Nelson of Sweden, married Elizabeth McCracken of Ireland, in New Zealand in
1887.They had seven children, all born
in New Zealand: Charles Leonard, born in 1888 ; Alfred William, born 1889 and
died in 1890 in New Zealand; Frederick Andrew, born 1891 ; Emily Jane, born in
1894; Henry Oscar, born in 1896 ; Agnes Maria, born in 1899 ; Maurits, stillborn
in 1904.﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

Frederick Andrew NelsonService No. 727 30th Battalion

The 1911 New
Zealand Electoral Rolls record a Martin Nelson as living in Mount Pleasant,
Mitchelltown and he was a Labourer.The
eldest son, Charles Leonard is also listed as living in Mount Pleasant.

By 1915, the
Sydney Sands Directory lists, Martin Nelson as residing in Parkes St, Ryde, on
the south side between the Masonic Hall and Joseph Parry. This is the address
given by Frederick and Henry, when they enlist in the Australian Imperial
Force, in July 1915. With consecutive service numbers, the brothers both join C
Company of the 30th Battalion, and depart Australia in November 1915.
Tragically (as we have already heard in previous blogs), Henry is to be killed
in action at Fromelles on 20 July 1916.

Only nine
months after that the family is to receive another cruel blow when Martin fell
from a tram near Pyrmont Bridge and died in Sydney Hospital.He is buried in the Presbyterian section of
Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde.His death
certificate shows that he died on 10 April 1917, he was 60 years old, and died
from accidental injuries.His father was
Svan Nelson, Pilot, and his mother was Anne Ivanson.His place of birth is shown as Warberg in
Sweden and he had been 3 years in NSW.The informant was his eldest son, Charles, of Parkes St, Ryde.

Fortunately
Frederick returned home safely from the war having married Beatrice Owen in
England in 1918.They settled in Bowden
Street, Ryde, in a house they named “Amiens” where they lived, according to the
Sands Directories, until at least 1933.They moved to Victoria Rd, Drummoyne in the1930s and by 1943 they moved
to Balmain, until Frederick’s death in 1969.

Elizabeth
Nelson died on 8th July 1934 at her residence in 22 Belmore St, Ryde. Her death
certificate shows she was 70 years old and her parents were John Charles
McCracken, school teacher, and Margaret Henderson.Her place of birth is shown as Dublin, that
she lived in Wellington, NZ for 31 years and 20 years in NSW. The informant was
her son, Frederick, of 61 Bowden St, Ryde.She is buried beside her husband, Martin, at Field of Mars Cemetery.

Frederick
Andrew Nelson is listed on the Ryde Town Hall Honour Rolls and St Anne's
Anglican Church, while Henry Oscar Nelson is listed among the names of the dead
in the Ryde Civic Centre Memorial Book and also on the St Anne's Anglican Church.